This invention relates to surgical staplers, and more particularly to surgical staplers of the type which are most frequently used for closing wounds in skin and fascia tissue.
Surgical staplers for closing wounds in skin and fascia tissue are well known (see, for example, Green U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,623). Generally in surgical staplers of this type, the entire stapler is external to the tissue at all times. The staples are applied singly in succession by being bent or formed around an anvil so that the opposite ends of the staple enter the tissue on respective opposite sides of the wound and draw the two sides of the wound together as the staple is formed around the anvil.
In many applications of staplers of this type it is desirable to have the hand of the operator which is holding and actuating the stapler as close as possible to the point at which the staple is to be applied. This increases the operator's accuracy in placing the staples. By the same token, however, the operator's hand and the instrument should not obstruct the operator's view of the stapling site any more than is absolutely necessary during application of the staple.
Another consideration which may influence the design of surgical staplers of this type is the increasing interest in disposable surgical instruments (i.e., surgical instruments which are inexpensive enough to be economically disposable after use in a single surgical procedure, thereby avoiding all difficulty and expense of cleaning and sterilizing the apparatus between uses). To be economically disposable, a surgical stapler is preferably made as small and as simply as possible, making the greatest possible use of inexpensive materials such as plastics and using the lightest possible construction.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to improve and simplify surgical staplers of the type which are commonly used for closing wounds in skin and fascia.
It is a more particular object of this invention to provide improved skin and fascia surgical staplers in which the operator's hand is relatively close to the stapling site and in which the operator's view of the stapling site is obstructed as little as possible by either the stapler or the hand.